Last Christmas, my uncle invited us to spend the holidays at his house in Goult, a lovely village in the Luberon, located halfway between Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. My uncle is my mother's brother and they both grew up in Marseille, France's second largest city. Rather than take the train to Avignon and get picked up by my uncle there, we decided to spend a day and a half in Marseille and rent a car to drive to Goult. I have very little childhood memories of Marseille, and my husband had never been so I was excited to discover the city, especially with my favourite Marseillaise - my mom - as our guide! FIRST THINGS FIRST: LUNCH AT CHEZ ETIENNE The trip from Paris Gare-de-Lyon ...
Off the Beaten Path
A Year In Champagne at the Angelika Film Center
With its reserved seating, gourmet concessions and interesting mix of blockbuster and special interest films, the Angelika Film Center & Cafe at the Mosaic District is one of my absolute favourite movie theater in the Washington area. Keyword: Washington area. It’s nowhere near the city and pretty inconvenient to get to if you don’t have a car. So I was thrilled when a smaller, albeit temporary version, of the art-house movie theater popped up behind Union Market. It became pretty handy when I was trying to catch up on my Oscar nominated films, showing Whiplash, Still Alice and a couple of other nominated flicks. Eventually, the pop-up Angelika Film theater at Union Market will transform ...
Olivia Macaron Venturing out of Georgetown
No, the Georgetown purveyor of colourful macarons is not opening a second boutique in Shaw. At least not yet (how great would it be though??) But there's still some good news if you love Olivia Macaron but don't love trekking all the way to M Street... you can now purchase a limited selection of macarons to go along your favourite coffee blend at La Colombe in Bladgen Alley. Obviously, there's a lot less flavours available at La Colombe, but it's great to know that there are some available in Shaw right? Also, if you can't make it to (or don't want to) Olivia Macaron or La Colombe, Olivia delivers nationwide (just call 202.965.1000 for orders.) La Colombe is located at 924 N St NW. Olivia ...
Postcard from France: Cour Bérard in Paris
Cour Bérard is a small street in the 4eme arrondissement in Paris. It's the home of the Moretti & Moretti, an art galerie which focuses on street art, digital art and installations. I headed to the galerie to check out its Konny Stedin exhibit. If you've been to Paris recently, I'm sure you spotted some of the German street artist's work. Her signature black and white portraits, with the red paint tears, can be seen throughout Paris, like this one below which I snapped a few years ago outside of Beaubourg But the best street art wasn't inside the gallery. It was actually outside, in the street, which was lined with graffiti black cats. Cour Bérard is a small street, but it's ...
Made-in-DC: Vodka & Whiskey at One Eight Distilling
One Eight Distilling is the second distillery to open in Washington, D.C. since prohibition. It happened to open on my birthday, so I thought a little local vodka and whiskey would make for a fun celebration. I wasn't the only one who had the brilliant idea to check out the distillery that day, and the 2,000 square foot tasting room in NorthEast's Ivy City neighbourhood was packed! For now there are only two spirits that can be sampled: the rye-based District Made Vodka and the Rock Creek White Whiskey. We tried both in small One Eight Distilling branded shot glasses while waiting for our tour of the adjoining 7,500 square foot production space to start. Like Green Hat Distillery, One Eight ...
Postcard from France: Visiting the Louvre-Lens
Lens, a small town in northern France, boasts a football stadium with a capacity larger than its population, but doesn't have a movie theater. A former mining strong hold, its main touristic and cultural attractions used to be world war I cemeteries and Europe's tallest slag heaps (known by their formal French name of base et terrils jumeaux du 11/19.) That all changed in 2012. That year, one of the world's most famous museums, the Louvre, opened an outpost in Lens, attracting some 900,000 visitors its first year of operation. While that's barely anything compared to the 8 million visitors that go through the Parisian museum each year, that's still very impressive. Lens is easily ...
A Taste of Olney’s Taste Gastropub
Discovering new restaurants and meeting new people who appreciate food as much as a do as two of the main reasons I keep blogging. Last week, I headed to Olney, Maryland for a private tasting at Taste Gastropub, an unassuming restaurant in a strip mall some 18 miles outside of my comfort zone, I mean, outside of downtown DC ;-) I'm definitely glad I ventured out. Lunch with my bestie Cecile, fellow DC Spotter Aparna, Lisa of #PushPlayEat, Jessica of The Dining Traveler, Carlis of Spicy Candy DC (who helped coordinate the event) and Lori of Been There Eaten That was delightful. The wine selection, expertly chosen by chef and sommelier Danny Lledo didn't hurt either! Let's chat about the ...
Art All Night Returns September 27, Expands Across the District
I've given up on D.C.'s Art For All ever being a cultural event of the scale and caliber of Paris' Nuit Blanche, but that doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to it. The main event, Art All Night/Nuit Blanche DC, now in its fourth edition, will take place Saturday, September 27 and go beyond the Shaw neighbourhood to all four quadrants of the city. Art All Night uses art to cast a new light on the city and one of the things I love the most about the DC version is that it allows me to explore both established art spaces and discover more underutilized venues. This year is no exception. Here are some of the highlights: Activated! Art4All Launch Party ~ If you haven't walked through ...
L’Heure de l’Apéritif – Green Hat Gin
Feels like I haven't done a cocktail post in ages... probably because that's the case. But last Saturday, after the Shortcut to Europe Embassies Open House event, I was inspired to branch out of my usual French wine and try something a little more "exotic." Like Bulgarian wine. Well, wouldn't you know, it is not easy to find Bulgarian wine in D.C.! But what I did find while I hopped from liquor store to liquor store, was a bottle of limited release seasonal Green Hat Gin. Probably a better choice than Bulgarian wine anyway ;-) I visited D.C.'s first legal distillery since prohibition back on November 24, 2012 during American Express' Small Business Saturday promotion. John Uselton, who runs ...
DC-to-do list ~ 2013 Edition
Yes I will drink less wine, work out more, spend less time instagramming pictures of my cat and read more books instead of just pinning images of book covers to a "books I'd like to read" board on pinterest (ps: you can follow me on pinterest to see what those books are...) We all make New Year's resolutions but back in 2010, I decided to make a DC-to-do list instead. I barely crossed half of them off (in 3 years no less) so it wasn't a resounding success but I think I'm ready to put this semi-failure behind me and give it another go! So here are ten D.C. things (and a couple extra non-DC stuff too) I haven't done yet that I resolve to do in 2013: 1) Take a tour of the Supreme Court (yes, ...
